BCL partner and data protection law and surveillance expert Julian Hayes recently spoke to People Management magazine about the data protection issues surrounding employers’ increasing use of artificial intelligence, following the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill back before parliament this week (w/c 17th April).
BCL partner, Julian Hayes writes for City AM explaining why the online safety bill still remains a problematic piece of legislation despite its recent revisions.
From e-commerce and video-conferencing to messaging friends and colleagues, we take the encryption, and thus the security, of our digital communications for granted. However, while it ensures our privacy, it is also exploited by criminals to evade detection, for example those plotting terrorist atrocities or exchanging child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEA). The dilemma – whether to maintain privacy or tackle crime facilitated online – underlies the opposing and often stridently expressed views about encryption. As messaging platforms roll-out end-to-end encryption (E2EE), where not even service providers can decipher messages sent over their systems, law enforcement agencies have sought to preserve their covert ability to observe our communications. The UK’s latest proposals, in amendments to the government’s flagship Online Safety Bill, have aroused fierce industry and privacy group opposition. The ongoing difficulty in resolving the privacy versus safety conundrum in part arises from a failure to level with the public about the trade-offs involved.
BCL’s Julian Hayes and Andrew Watson’s article ‘’Preparing for the worst but operating at our best – Reform of the NIS Regulations’’ has been published by The Barrister. In the article they discuss the regulations and look into the challenges for the reforms in the face of increased online threats.
With cybercrime rates doubling since 2019, and ransomware tripling since 2020, the UK government is seeking to bolster the nation’s cyber defences, publishing the National Cyber Strategy 2022 and enhancing the four-year-old Network and Information Systems Regulations (‘NIS Regulations’). BCL’s Julian Hayes and Andrew Watson discuss the NIS regulations and look into the challenges for the reforms of the NIS regulations in the face of increased online threats.
BCL partners, Michael Drury and Julian Hayes discuss the implementation of the much delayed UK-US data sharing agreement (Cloud Act) and examine the wider impact its provisions will have on criminal investigations across the globe.
Suzanne Gallagher takes a look at the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly known as drones) in a law enforcement context and maps out the current regulatory framework.
BCL associate Suzanne Gallagher’s article discussing recent developments in the application of predictive policing technology has been published by The Crime Report.
BCL partner Julian Hayes’s article examining the new Children’s Code that came into effect this month as part of the Government’s wider campaign to protect children from online harms has now been published by Police Professional.
